Bittersweet
by lilyofthevalley2
Summary: Jushiro Ukitake and Shunsui Kyoraku reminisce about their days in the Academy. Friendship only.
1. Sake

"But, Nanao-chan, sake is very healthy for you. Everyone knows that." Shunsui Kyoraku was leaning on his lieutenant's desk, his flowery haori threatening to knock over her inkpot.

"Captain, if you don't remove yourself from my desk, I will turn that absurd robe of yours into the regulation black for you," Nanao threatened. She was so _cute_ when she was annoyed at him.

"Surely my Nanao-chan wouldn't be so cruel to me!" he objected playfully. "Besides, it wouldn't do any good. I have a dozen others at home."

There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in," Shunsui said, still lounging on the desk.

Captain Unohana came in. "Shunsui," she said calmly, "you should come now. Jushiro just collapsed."

He slid off Nanao's desk, his heart in his throat. "Is he all right?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said. "Truthfully, I wouldn't wait, if I were you."

"Go," Nanao urged him. "I can take care of things as long as necessary."

Shunsui flash-stepped to Jushiro's apartment at top speed. His friend was propped up on half a dozen pillows. His eyes were closed and sunken, and his breath was coming in ragged rasps. Shunsui noticed that his white captain's robe had been set aside, stained badly with blood. A healer was watching over him.

The girl rose and bowed. "We've done what we can for now. I'll need to return in a half hour to give a second dose. Until then, I'll be waiting outside. Please summon me if he gets worse or needs anything," she said. She left the room and shut the door behind her.

Shunsui sat beside his old friend. "Hey. You awake, you old faker?"

Jushiro opened his eyes. "More or less," he rasped.

"You don't fool me, you know," said Shunsui. "I know perfectly well that you just didn't want to work today."

"You caught me," Jushiro said. His eyes fluttered closed again. Shunsui had never seen him so bad before. His friend had a powerful sense of dignity, and he always insisted on at least sitting up to receive visitors. Now, he couldn't even seem to keep his eyes open.

Shunsui had begun to wonder if Jushiro had fallen asleep when he began to cough. "Rag," he gasped, pointing at a pile. Shunsui grabbed one and handed it to him. Jushiro's body shook violently, and he needed a second rag almost at once. _He's really going to die_, Shunsui realized.

As Jushiro relaxed back, he seemed to notice Shunsui's expression. "Hey, why the long face? You know this is only temporary," he said. "I'll be up drinking sake before you know it. And you know I'm going to beat you this week."

"Yeah, right," Shunsui said. "You haven't beaten me for decades."

"I beat you three years ago, in April."

"That was _not _a fair fight," Shunsui protested. "I had already been drinking that day."

"Is there ever a day when you don't?" Jushiro asked. He laughed. Or at least tried to, before it turned into a cough. "Hey, do you remember the first time?"

Shunsui laughed, too. "Oh, yes. Can you believe how long it's been?"

**C.E. 41**

Jushiro Ukitake walked up to the walls of Seireitei tentatively. They were tall. Really, really tall. Jushiro was born in Soul Society, and all his life, he'd seen these walls from his family's estate. Still, they were much more impressive up close.

"You just going to look at them, or are you going in?" someone drawled behind him.

It was a young man with long, curly hair and a straw hat. He was lounging in a tree, chewing on a grass stalk. He jumped down lazily. "I'm Shunsui Kyoraku. I'm a new student in the Academy. Who're you?"

_This_ odd boy was a member of the prestigious Kyoraku family? He seemed to realize what Jushiro was thinking, because he added, "Yes, I know, I'm supposed to be snooty and aristocratic, but I find it too dull. You meet much more interesting people if you don't turn your nose up at them. Anyway," he added seriously, "we're supposed to be in this Academy for skill, not blood, so I don't think family should matter too much."

Jushiro snorted mentally. Either the boy was making fun of him, or he was incredibly naïve. "I'm Jushiro Ukitake," he said, opting to reserve judgment for later.

"Pleased to meet you," Kyoraku said. "Shall we head in? I'll show you around."

Kyoraku showed him around, making an impish and naughty commentary on many of the teachers and fellow students. By the time Jushiro finally managed to break away from him, his ears were burning with embarrassment. To his dismay, it turned you that Kyoraku was his roommate. Resignedly, he headed for his new dorm room, sure it was going to be a long year.

As it happened, Jushiro was wrong about Kyoraku. He was a much more irritating roommate than Jushiro expected. Jushiro worked very hard for his grades. Every day, he spent the time between school and dinner practicing his swordsmanship and Kido. Then, after a brief dinner, he did homework until bedtime. Kyoraku wandered in and out, apparently not doing any work at all. And on top of that, he snored incredibly loudly when he slept, which was a good part of the day.

At first Jushiro consoled himself that a lazy student like Kyoraku would probably fail out in a few months. To his appalled surprise, Kyoraku scored in the top ten of the class. Jushiro was the top scorer, but he knew _he_ was working. It galled him that this apparently foolish young noble could do so well without even trying.

For his part, Kyoraku found Jushiro incredibly stuffy. He followed exactly the same routine every day, without any variation, as far as he could tell. He didn't seem to enjoy anything: not naps, not the outdoors, and he didn't even seem to notice the looks he got from young women. When Shunsui pointed them out, Jushiro simply gave them a cursory glance and said, "I'm too busy for romantic entanglements."

Well, what was life without a few entanglements?

The week after their final exams, something finally snapped in Kyoraku. Even though they had a whole week of vacation ahead, he came into their room to find Jushiro bent over his books. "That's it," he said. "You're coming with me."

Kyoraku dragged his roommate out the door, and out of the dorms, protesting all the way. He steered him to the gates of Seireitei, and propelled him out into Rukongai.

"Now, just a minute!" Jushiro protested. "Where are we going? We aren't even allowed to leave the Academy grounds, let alone go outside Seireitei."

"First of all," Kyoraku said, "don't be a prude. Second of all, it's vacation, and even students are allowed to go where they please on vacation. And if there was ever a student who needs a vacation, it's you." He dragged Jushiro to his favorite pub and got them a seat. Then, he got them both a bottle of sake, and poured a glass for each of them. "Drink," he ordered.

"But I don't…"

"Drink it," Kyoraku insisted. "Or I will force you to drink it. And we both know I'm better than you in swordsmanship."

Jushiro obeyed, and Kyoraku drank a cup himself. There was simply nothing like sake. He enjoyed the slight burning sensation as it slid down his throat. He was already on his third cup by the time Jushiro finished the first, but Kyoraku poured another for his roommate. He protested, but Kyoraku overrode him. By the fourth cup, he was drinking of his own accord. And wonder of wonders, he was actually talking.

"So, I gotta wonder," Jushiro said, "how you manage to do so good when you don't even study. I was starting to think maybe you were cheating, but you always know the answer in class, too. You some kind of genius, or what?" He poured himself another cup.

"Honestly, I didn't really want to come here," Kyoraku said. "I'd have preferred to stay on the family estate and be a part of the business. This fighting and studying isn't really my thing. But my father owes the Old Man some favors, so when he said he wanted me to come to the Academy, I came." Man, he was getting drunk now, too, even though he was only on his second bottle. He usually didn't like talking about why he was in the Academy.

"Figures," Jushiro said. "I work for three years to get in, and you get forced in without even trying."

"Well, why are you here, then?" Kyoraku asked.

"My parents are dead," Jushiro said. "I've got seven other kids to support. Gotta get a good job, maybe even become captain." He yawned. "Makes you tired, though."

"How'd your parents die?" Kyoraku asked.

"Band of thieves broke into our estate. They got a lot of people. My parents were trying to protect the servants. Didn't exactly work, I guess. A dozen of them died, along with my sister and parents," Jushiro explained.

Kyoraku didn't say anything. He had thought Jushiro was just a straight-laced young man with the expectations of his family weighing on him. He never guessed he had responsibilities like that. "Sorry," he said.

"'S all right. Was a long time ago," Jushiro said. He tried pouring himself another cup of sake, but he missed the cup and dropped the bottle. He slumped over the table and fell asleep.

Kyoraku picked up the bottle before it all spilled. "You shouldn't spill sake," he said to Jushiro's head. "It's a crime in some places, you know." And with a toast to his unconscious friend, Kyoraku continued drinking.

**Present Day**

"I really thought I was going to die the next day, you know," Jushiro said.

"But you have to admit that it broke the ice," Kyoraku said. "Or melted it, anyway. And it started a tradition."

"It certainly did. And my grades felt it."

"Jyu, you finished first in our class anyway. I'd hardly say you were seriously injured by it," Kyoraku said.

Jushiro started coughing again, and Kyoraku went to get him a drink of water.


	2. Boar Hunting

The nurse came in quietly, checked Jushiro's pulse and temperature, and gave him some medicine. He drank it quickly, and she took the cup from him before he left.

"You know, sometimes I'm surprised we made it through the Academy without being expelled," Jushiro commented after the nurse had left.

Shunsui chuckled. "Or arrested, for that matter. Do you remember the incident with the boar?"

**C.E. 43**

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jushiro said.

"Of course it's not a good idea. That's what makes it an excellent practical joke," Shunsui explained. "Just relax already."

The two shinigami-in-training were crouched outside the Shiba family boar pens. The Shiba family was composed of very wealthy landowners, famous for their stock and agricultural produce. However, their purebred boars the pride of the clan. Shiba boars were three times as large as normal pigs, and their sweet meat was in great demand for holiday dinners.

"All right. There are four guards we need to worry about: two on patrol and two at the gate. I'll distract them, and you'll run in and grab a pig," Shunsui said.

"How am I supposed to grab a pig? They're huge!" Jushiro objected.

"They're trained to move when you swat their rears. You're a smart guy. Figure it out," Shunsui said, and he hurried away into the darkness.

_Why do I let myself get talked into these things?_ Jushiro wondered.

Suddenly, the silence was shattered by ungodly, pig-like squeals to Jushiro's right. The guards ran in the direction of the noise. Jushiro hurried up to the fence and jumped over it, heading for the nearest boar. The animal ignored him, continuing to munch on some grasses. He hit it gingerly, unwilling to irritate something with such large tusks. The animal didn't even look up. He hit it harder, and the animal reluctantly began to move.

The boar moved painfully slowly. Suddenly, Jushiro heard a shout behind him. The guards were coming back, and they were running towards him. Panicking, he swatted the boar as hard as he could. The animal bellowed and began to run. He was shocked at how quickly it moved; it was getting away from him. Jushiro flash-stepped up to it and managed to vault onto its back.

Then he realized he had no way to steer.

The boar was running at full tilt towards the wall. In desperation, Jushiro fired a blast of Kido at the fence, blowing a hole in it. _Wow, that actually worked,_ he realized. The boar ran through the gap without even pausing, and continued to barrel through the fields beyond.

Suddenly, Shunsui was next to him, keeping pace with flash steps, a feral grin on his face. "You…are…**insane**!" Jushiro shouted.

"I'm not the one riding the pig," Shunsui said.

"Where'd you learn to flash-step like that?" Jushiro asked

"Same place you learned to blow up a fence with Kido. I made it up as I went along," Shunsui said. "Which reminds me, where are you going?"

"I don't know. I can't drive a boar!" Jushiro said. "Did your friend tell you how to make these things stop?"

"Not really," Shunsui said.

Since they didn't have a choice in the matter, they simply let the animal run until it grew tired. When it did, it stopped suddenly, throwing Jushiro off its back, head over heals.

"The Shibas," he said, picking bits of grass and branch out of his long, dark hair, "must all have the patience of saints. I'd have slaughtered every animal years ago."

Ignoring its former rider's plight, the boar was grazing unconcernedly. "You certainly wouldn't think something that large would run so fast, would you?" Shunsui observed.

Jushiro sat down to catch his breath. The boar had stopped in a large, open field, well outside the bounds of Rukongai. "How on earth are we going to get this thing into Seireitei without anyone noticing? It's not like we can exactly hide him; he's huge!"

"The best way to hide something big is to conceal it in something bigger," Shunsui said. "Trust me."

Jushiro sighed. "So, now what do we do?"

"We get this boar back to Seireitei. We should probably try to walk him this time," Shunsui said.

"Fine with me," Jushiro said.

By the time the West Gate loomed over them, it was past midnight. Shunsui led them into a shed by the fields, where there was a massive cart, a cage sitting on it. "How in the world did you get that?" Jushiro asked.

"The cart is just a standard supply cart, and I borrowed the cage from 12th Squad," Shunsui said.

"Borrowed?" Jushiro asked.

"Just get the boar into the cage," Shunsui said.

Surprisingly, the boar entered the cage quite willingly. They piled supplies around the cage to conceal it and wheeled the wagon outside. The gatekeeper let them through without comment. They dragged the wagon through the quiet streets and over to the Academy buildings. When they got to the biggest lecture hall, they unloaded the boar.

"Finally," Shunsui said. "Now we just have to get the boar onto the roof."

"What?" hissed Jushiro. "You just said you wanted to let it loose in the main hall. You didn't say you wanted to get it on the roof!"

"Come on, it isn't that high. It'd be an easy jump for a shinigami," Shunsui said.

"But we're not shinigami yet!"

"Just grab its left side, and get ready to jump," Shunsui ordered.

_Why do I get myself into this?_ Jushiro asked himself again. Then, without giving himself time to think about it, he leapt into the air.

Headmaster Yamamoto never did figure out exactly how the Shiba family's prize racing boar ended up on the roof. The Shiba family later attempted to train the animal to jump vaults on command, but they could never get it to repeat the trick.


	3. Hair Color

**C.E. 44**

Shunsui was in the middle of a very pleasant and unprintable dream when he was awakened by a shout. "What the _hell_?" Jushiro shouted.

"You alright?" Shunsui asked, without opening his eyes. Really, it was much too early to be awake, let alone to deal with his roommate's problems.

"No, I'm not!" Jushiro said. "Did you do this?"

Shunsui sighed, rolled over, and open his eyes. Jushiro was towering over his bed, his white hair rumpled and messy.

Wait. _White_ hair?

"What happened to your hair?" Shunsui asked, trying to wake his brain up enough to process the change.

"That's exactly what I want to know," Jushiro said. "So you didn't pull some joke on me?"

"No," Shunsui said. "Can I go back to bed now?" he asked. As Jushiro stormed out of the room, muttering something about dye, Shunsui went back to sleep.

Over the next few days, Jushiro tried several different methods to re-color his hair. Jushiro might be diligent, but he was also slightly vain about his appearance. Shunsui thought that worrying about hair color was rather silly, but he kept his opinions to himself.

Unfortunately for his peace and quiet, chemical dyes simply wouldn't affix themselves to Jushiro's hair. After the third botched attempt, he was getting desperate. He was now trying to modify a water-based Kido spell to color his hair.

A great plume of steam enveloped his body down to his torso, cracking with blue sparks. Suddenly, it dissipated. Shunsui took one look at his friend and started to laugh hysterically. His body shaking, he fell of his chair with tears streaming out of his eyes. "Ha, ha, ha! I'm sorry, Jyu, but at least that color looks good on you!"

With a pained expression on his face, Jushiro pulled a strand of his hair from behind his back to see what color his hair was now. It was an absolutely lovely shade of lilac.

**Present Day**

"At least the color faded," Jushiro said.

"And it gave you time to get used to the idea of having white hair," Shunsui said. "Although I must say, violet hair certainly made you popular with the ladies."

"Not all the ladies," Jushiro said. "Do you remember what we did to Retsu?"

**C.E. 44**

It took a week for Jushiro's hair to settle back into a silvery-white (although Shunsui insisted that traces of purple remained). Of course, Shunsui insisted on learning the spell Jushiro had tried to use. The grounds around their dorms suddenly acquired several purple trees and one very disgruntled violet cat.

Being Shunsui, it didn't take long for him to come up with a better application for their newfound skill.

The Shinigami Academy was divided into six levels. Shunsui and Jushiro were in the third level. One of the students in the fifth level was Retsu Unohana. She was said to be a genius in healing Kido. She was also very beautiful; most of the male shinigami recruits had a crush on her. She had a lovely black braid which fell to her waist behind her back. That was what inspired Shunsui.

Jushiro distracted Retsu by engaging her with a question about Kido. Shunsui snuck up behind her and began the invocation. As steam dissipated, they saw a large purple stripe in the back of her braid. Jushiro and Shunsui ran away, flash-stepping as quickly as possible. "Wish we could've waited around to see her face," Shunsui said.

"I doubt that would've been a good idea," Jushiro said.

"Well, we should be safe now," Shunsui said, slowing to a normal walk.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over them. They turned around, and saw what appeared to be a very large, green flying manta ray bearing down on them.

Shunsui's mouth fell open. "Run!" Jushiro said.

They ran, but even at their top flash-step speed, the creature gained on them.

"What is that thing?" Shunsui panted. "A Hollow?"

"I don't know. It doesn't have a Hollow hole," Jushiro wheezed.

They dodged inside a nearby building to catch their breath. The creature crowed in frustration, but continued to circle around their hideout.

"We are in so much trouble," Jushiro muttered. "That thing could rip this shed apart if it wanted to."

"What if we split up?" Shunsui suggested.

"Then whoever it chooses to chase won't have any protection," Jushiro said. "We'd probably better go on the offensive. I don't know if it's a Hollow or not, but we really can't let it run loose. You distract it from the front and I'll try to get its head."

Shunsui dodged out the front and yelled, "Hey, freak! Come and get me!"

Jushiro rolled his eyes. _So overdramatic_, he thought. Still, it worked; the manta ray turned and started charging at Shunsui. As soon as it had his back to Jushiro, he charged out after it. He jumped up onto the rooftop and flash-stepped as fast as he could after it. It was ridiculously fast, and Jushiro was starting to get tired. Finally, it slowed down Jushiro jumped onto its back, raised his zanpakuto over his head, and brought it down onto the creature.

Nothing happened.

"It's not working!" Jushiro yelled. Shunsui jumped onto a wall to get a better position on the creature, but it swooped down and swallowed him whole.

"Shun!" Jushiro shouted. Desperately, he swung his sword down on the creature's head again, but his zanpakuto didn't even scratch its blubbery back. It shook him off, swept down, and swallowed him as well.

Interesting.

Being eaten didn't feel like he thought it would

Jushiro found himself in a warm, soft enclosure, lit by very dim green light.

"Hey, is that you?" he heard Shunsui ask.

Jushiro felt a surge of relief that his friend was all right. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "What in the world _is_ this place?"

"Ah, gentlemen. I see you are both here," a woman's voice said calmly.

"_Retsu_?" both boys said.

"That's Unohana-senpai to you," she said coolly. "Really, if you plan to pull pranks, you ought to be prepared to accept the consequences."

"What is this thing?" Jushiro asked.

"It's my shikai," she said.

Despite himself, Jushiro was impressed. It was nearly unheard of for a shinigami to achieve shikai before graduating from the Academy. No wonder Retsu was already in the fifth level.

"I'd advise against trying to fight your way out. Minazuki is quite impervious to attack, so you'll just tire yourselves," she continued.

"All right," Shunsui said, lying down and putting his hands behind his head. "Your move, Retsu."

"Just relax. You'll be here a while."

They flew for about twelve hours. Shunsui predictably napped for most of it. Jushiro always had trouble sleeping during the day unless he was sick. Actually, he was feeling quite good, all things considered. Before, his lungs had been starting to burn from the exertion, but the air inside Retsu's shikai seemed to be more soothing than normal air.

Eventually, the manta ray landed and let Shunsui and Jushiro out. "I'll see you back at school, gentlemen," her voice said calmly, and then the manta ray dissolved into green mist.

"Well," Shunsui said after a few moments, "shall we start walking back?"

Fortunately, they could flash-step far more quickly than the manta ray. When the creature let them go, it had been quite late at night; they arrived back around noon the next day. They were both exhausted, but they made it to their afternoon classes.

As fate would have it, Retsu had come to do a demonstration for their Intermediate Kido class. She had her usual serene smile, but her dark braid hair was braided in front rather than behind her.

"I'll need a pair of shinigami for my demonstration. Kyoraku, Ukitake, will you come to the front, please?" she said.

As they approached her with trepidation, she murmured softly, "I'm glad to see you both made it back safely."

"Nice braid," Kyoraku muttered back.

Jushiro was never quite sure, but he thought he might have seen a sparkle of amusement deep in her eyes.


End file.
